Turtle Rock Studios’ new first-person action game Evolve plays like a strange version of hide-and-seek in emphasizing its asymmetrical, four-on-one gameplay.

The basic premise is that a group of the galaxy’s best hunters have banded together to protect human colonists on the planet Shear from the dangerous creatures inhabiting it. The game resolves the plot through a series of objective-based matches in which four players engage with a single player who is the monster.

The four players form a team of hunters and each hunter has its own job within the team. The Assault class is the team’s primary damage dealer, capable of dishing out punishment and shielding themselves in a pinch. Medics are responsible for keeping the team healthy. The Support Class does a bit of everything, ranging from damaging the monster to cloaking their companions. Trappers track the monster, cage it when it’s within range and litter the map with traps (as their name implies).

In the other corner is the monster. The player who controls the monster begins as a lowly creature with a few special abilities. However, monsters gain strength while killing and eating the surrounding wildlife in the level, causing them to — you guessed it — evolve.

The latest installment of Battlefield removes players from harsh international warzones and places them in a more domestic struggle. Hardline pits police against criminals in high-octane shootouts through the streets of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas.

The beta features three modes. Conquest — where players attempt to control various bases in the area — makes its return. In addition, Hardline introduces two new game types in Heist and Hotwire.

In Heist, criminals attempt to break into a bank, steal money and transport the cash to a secure location while the cops try to prevent them from doing so. The game highlights the frenzy of Hardline as multiple players are drawn to just one or two points on the map.

Coming off the heels of the fiasco that was Halo: The Master Chief Collection, 343 Industries has released the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta for the holiday season and the beginning of 2015.

The first takeaway is that Halo 5: Guardians returns the series to its roots by placing power weapons, like sniper rifles and and rocket launchers, on the map rather than having them as perks for a high kill-count. The switch rectifies a common complaint with 343’s previous installment Halo 4, which to many players felt too similar to Call of Duty.

The simple change infuses the game’s multiplayer with that classic Halo strategy feel it lost in Halo 4, as map control is suddenly relevant.

The tournament will be broadcast on MLG.tv. It is the first time MLG will hold an event in Colorado.

“Our X Games debut was such a success we knew we had to continue the tradition,” MLG co-founder and CEO Sundance DiGiovanni said in a release. “The MLG X Games Aspen Invitational will further elevate eSports placing our top competitors amongst the best winter athletes in the world.”

Eight teams will be competiting in the event, including three from North America, three from Europe and one from Brazil. The total prize money is $50,000 with $25,000 going to first place, $12,500 to second, $7,500 to third, and $5,000 to fourth.

The bronze medal match takes place at 10 a.m. Jan. 25, and the gold medal match will start at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 25.

Say what you will of “Freemium” games or free-to-play titles that include microtransactions for improved gear and added benefits, but Wargaming.net’s World of Tanks offers a great experience for the low, low price of nothing. With multiplayer matches that can hold up to 30 people and an extensive arsenal of British, German and American tanks to research and upgrade, World of Tanks offers plenty of content for players who choose to play completely for free. Of course, spending cash has its advantages but it’s not required for a good time.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was 2014’s most impressive action-fantasy title, and it had plenty of competition. (Provided by Warner Bros.)

The biggest stories in the gaming world in 2014 often had nothing to do with the games themselves, such as the convoluted GamerGate controversy, or the battle of the PlayStation 4 vs. the Xbox One.

But when it came to the games, 2014 was another encouraging year. Perhaps not as solid as 2013 — which included artistic and technical triumphs such as The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto V, and which shamed 2012’s pathetic AAA offerings — but still one to celebrate.

Here’s our list of the best of the best this year. What about yours? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Meet the elephants, tigers and homicidal maniacs of Kyrat. (Provided by Ubisoft)

Far Cry 4 begins a lot like the first three installments in Ubisoft’s violent, first-person-shooter series: a hapless character quickly finds himself in danger soon after embarking on what should have been a quiet trip.

In this case, Ajay Gahle is fulfilling his mother’s last wishes by taking her ashes to Kyrat, a fictional Himalayan nation. What he doesn’t know is that his parents were influential rebels in the ongoing civil war.

It’s a promising story that quickly becomes irrelevant as the game branches into dozens of side quests, periods of exploration and general mayhem. The freedom and openness of Kyrat is exhilarating. The AI and controls? Not so much.

Except for some of the Balance of Power missions, the storyline has little effect on strategy or play style. Controls are a little clumsy on the last-gen PlayStation 3, hinting that the game may be better suited to PC or PS4/Xbox One.

“November the 9th, the moment Xbox Nation has been waiting for, Halo 2.”

Those words, spoken at E3 2004 by Peter Moore — then Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment — were spot on. Nov. 9 was a great day for Halo fans and now, ten years later, Halo: The Master Chief Collection re-envisions Chief’s second adventure in a way that far surpasses fans’ expectations.

While the Master Chief Collection features all four Halo games starring the legendary Spartan, the Halo 2 Anniversary easily outshines the other three titles.

I’ve played re-releases before. Some are worth shelling out $60 bucks for a trip down memory lane while others are just cheap re-makes attempting to carve the final few chunks of meat from a once-fat cash cow. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is neither. Rather, it’s the beginning of a bright future for fans of the series. The game emphasizes what’s yet to come by celebrating what has already passed.

There’s not much new to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. So how is that a good thing? (Provided by 2K Games)

If you’ve played either of the first two Borderlands open-world shooter games, you pretty much know what to expect from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

Set in an alien world populated by clever but gross-out humor, colorful cel-shaded visuals, and a never-ending stream of procedurally generated weaponry, Borderlands works best when it turns you loose and lets you get overwhelmed in cartoonish carnage.

The last standalone entry, Borderlands 2, was one of the finest games of 2012 due to its dozens of hours of compelling gameplay and immersive feel. This world (Pandora) was one I wanted to visit again and again, and it took a shockingly long amount of time for me to tire of it.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is (as its name implies) a cash-in on the series that basically mimics Borderlands 2 with some tiny tweaks. Its similarities to past titles and DLC have angered some critics, and truly, players who are overly familiar with Borderlands’ mechanics will tire a lot faster of the game than they might have Borderlands 2. It’s a well-trod world, gussied up with new names and environments.

The three guardian types: The Titan, The Hunter and The Warlock (Provided by Bungie)

Xbox and PlayStation gamers have no doubt skipped school, called in sick and made other excuses for a chance to play Destiny. And after heavy hype and beta testing, Bungie and Activision’s Destiny is finally here to face its fate, for better or for worse.

The answer is neither. Released Sept. 9, Destiny proves it’s a good game — but not great. Vast, but not deep. Despite being created by the makers of Halo and the company that introduced Call of Duty, Destiny isn’t the gem that gamers have been expecting.

Destiny tries to be too many things at once, doing its best to cater to too many trends. Part RPG, MMO and FPS, Destiny’s got a bit of everything: a level-based class system where players get stronger through a series of quests, extended magazines, enhanced scopes and other weapon and armor perks for continued play, and a decent character creation system. (Just don’t expect to be able to color your character’s individual nose hairs à la Skyrim).

A&E reporter John Wenzel has covered a variety of topics for The Denver Post over the years, including video games, comedy, music and the fine arts. He's been playing and loving video games since his dad brought home a sweet ColecoVision in 1983. Catch him on PSN as beardsandgum.

Hugh got his start writing for the Cheyenne and Woodmen Edition newspapers in Colorado Springs. In 2011 he moved to Denver where he has written for Denver Urban Spectrum and Colorado Community Media’s Wheat Ridge Transcript. Hugh joined The Denver Post in 2014 as an editorial assistant.

Bryan Moore joined The Denver Post sports department in 1997 and has worked in many phases of producing the daily sports section ever since, specifically focusing on coverage of the Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and college football and basketball.